ATLEU joins over 100 charities calling for action on children going missing from Home Office hotels

Today, ATLEU joined over 100 charities from the anti-trafficking, refugee and children’s sectors, in writing to the Prime Minister to express our grave concern about separated children seeking asylum going missing from Home Office hotels.

The children are suspected of being exploited and trafficked, and are accommodated outside of the UK’s child welfare framework which applies to all children, regardless of their immigration status.

In the open letter coordinated by ECPAT UK and the Refugee Council, we call for the Home Office to stop accommodating separated children in hotels with no further delays. It also calls for children to be cared for by local authority children’s social care, according to the law and with all the safeguards that brings including OFSTED oversight.

We want an immediate end to this practice with a commitment to an end date after which these practices will not be revived and an urgent independent inquiry given these significant matters of public concern following the reported failures to protect vulnerable children from harm.

For further information: Over 100 charities call for action on children going missing from Home Office hotels, at risk of trafficking and exploitation